After I Become the CEO, My Heiress Ex Proposed to Me

Chapter 2

That fight tore through us like a blade, slicing something deep and unfixable.

The campus forums exploded overnight.

People who used to envy me swarmed like vultures, tearing me apart with their words.

"Gold digger." "Social climber." "Scheming bitch."

Each label felt like a dagger straight to the chest.

I didn't leave my dorm for seven days.

Then Yvonne texted me—Sophia had booked a private room at Blue Note.

The second I stepped inside, the air felt like it had been sucked out of the room.

There she was, in the middle of it all—Sophia—surrounded by her smug, too-perfect friends.

The moment she saw me, her eyes lit up. She rushed toward me without hesitation.

"Don't go."

Her fingers clamped around my wrist like steel.

Before I could even react, she dropped to one knee.

From her coat pocket, she pulled out a small velvet box.

"Happy Valentine's Day," she said, looking up at me with a soft, almost defiant smile.

Inside was a silver chain with half a shattered heart pendant.

"It matches your star pendant," she said.

My hand instinctively went to the necklace at my throat—the one I'd given her the year before, the one she'd never taken off.

Cheers and whistles echoed around the room.

Taking advantage of the moment, she threw her arms around me, her breath warm against my ear.

"Don't be mad, okay?"

I shoved her off, pulled out my phone, and held it up to her face.

"Then explain this."

The photo showed her leaning dangerously close to Justin's collar—close enough to kiss.

Sophia rolled her eyes and zoomed in.

"Seriously? Look—sauce stain. He asked me to check it."

Then she leaned in, just inches from my face. Her eyes locked onto mine.

"I didn't touch him. Not once."

I was about to fire back—

When the door slammed open.

Justin stood in the doorway, soaked from head to toe, rain dripping off his hair.

"I'm sorry," he said, voice shaky. "I never meant for any of this to happen."

Then, looking at Sophia: "I'll tell my father the engagement's off."

Sophia froze.

Then she shoved past me and ran to him, dabbing at his face with her sleeve.

"Don't! He'll kill you if you go against him!"

Silence crashed over the room.

Every pair of eyes turned to me, their stares sharp and judgmental—like I was the one who'd done something wrong.

"I'm out of here."

I grabbed my coat and made for the door.

I barely made it outside when a hand caught my arm.

Sophia again—soaked now, her hair plastered to her face—dragged me into the bubble tea shop next door.

She didn't speak at first, just fumbled with a napkin, trying to dry my hair.

"Listen…" she said, her voice tight. "The Chambers have rules—brutal ones. If he calls it off, they'll literally break his legs."

Then she cupped my face in her cold, trembling hands.

"But I swear to you, Justin is just a friend."

Through the window behind her, I saw him across the street.

He smiled. Smug. Triumphant.

I didn't understand it then.

Not until graduation day, when Sophia walked into the auditorium holding his hand—

And announced their engagement.

My star pendant?

It had already started to rust in the rain that night.